Truck catches fire near Hagerstown fire station

November 30, 2007|By HEATHER KEELS

If there could be a convenient place for a vehicle to catch on fire, Erik Goetz's Dodge Ram might have found it Thursday afternoon.

The truck was half a block from the Antietam Fire Co. when Goetz noticed smoke coming from under the hood at about 3:15 p.m., while he was stopped at a red light on West Antietam Street at the Summit Avenue intersection.

Goetz, 34, of Hagerstown, got out of the truck and took his 3 1/2-year-old son, Heath, into the Washington County Community Action Council building to call 911. That's when he saw flames start to shoot out of the hood, he said.

Antietam Fire Co. trucks had the fire out within minutes. Firefighter Glenn Fuscsick said an engine malfunction was the most likely cause.

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The truck had been acting up all day, "bucking" as he drove and emitting a gas smell, Goetz said.